Never Ask Your Husband To Put The Food Away.
April 30, 2012 in Leia's Corner
He has no idea how hard I work to keep their diets pure. At least this was only rice and beef broth. *sigh*
Potty Training Answer B
Your puppy never poops in the house. (Well. Almost never.) She seems to have gotten this part of Potty Training down perfectly. When ever you take her out, she poops and pees flawlessly. You praise her and give her treats every time she goes potty outside, and you’ve worked hard to take her out frequently.
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Potty Training Answer A
You don’t believe in kennels. From the very first day your puppy came home she has been a complete part of your family. She has the run of the house, owns the backyard, and twice a day she gets a little walk to stretch her legs. Unfortunately, while she has quickly grasped many other parts
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Teaching Your Dog Sit Off Leash
Teaching your dog to sit off leash, especially outside, is vital to outdoor training. While you may never plan on having your dog off leash outside, things can and do happen. A perfect example is an emergency situation posted by a commenter: I’ve left him, in the middle of a training field in a down
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Is Your Dog Ready For Agility Class?
April 29, 2012 in Dog Training
He’s three years old, energetic, out of control, and eating everything. You’ve been to obedience class, you’ve taken him for walks, you’ve even started hitting up Craig’s List for a doggie treadmill. You flip on TV, and you see a dog and handler moving at top speed around an exciting looking course.
That’s it! Agility. What better way to tire out your dog and have fun at the same time? You call around until you find a trainer that does agility, eager to sign up for a course. A friendly trainer tells you a new class begins soon, and to book an appointment for an evaluation.
Say what?
Agility is fun, and is a great outlet for high energy dogs, but you can’t begin a class without a small amount of preparation. Is your dog ready to meet the teeter? Your agility instructor should be able to tell you at an evaluation, but here’s a little prep work you can do to put yourself ahead:
Develop Recall
At some point during your class, you are going to have to unsnap your dog’s leash in the presence of other (leashed) dogs, and ask him to focus on you. Will he go with you, or dash madly around sniffing dog butts? If you’re not sure, work on recall at home, and at the park or other dog-safe area. (If you’re afraid he’ll run away, use a 30 foot dog lead.)
Social Call
If your dog is aggressive toward other dogs or people, taking him to an agility class is probably a bad idea. If he’s shy or young, you can help by socializing him before taking him to class. That evaluation doubles as a great opportunity to let your dog meet the trainer and location before lessons begin.
Collar Grab
Will your dog let you hold his collar? Does he like it? This may sound stupid, but being able to lead your dog by the collar (without him thinking he’s in trouble!) Is a very important skill in the beginning stages of agility. Small dogs obviously are not used to having their collars held, and most big dogs only have their collars grabbed when the fun stops.
Practice taking hold of your dogs collar and then immediately rewarding with a treat. This isn’t necessary to begin class, but it really does help.
Sit/Down
Again while not absolutely necessary, having a sit or down is really helpful, especially if your dog can hold sit/down off leash with you at least five feet away. This skill gives you enough freedom to walk around a jump and call your dog over it, makes introducing the pause table easier, and gives you something to practice while waiting your turn for the weave poles.
Have you mastered these arts? Think there should be something else added to this list? Share your stories in the comments section.
LOST: Would Your Dog Be Found?
April 28, 2012 in General
This morning I went outside to put the trash out, and found a dog sitting in my front yard. This is relatively common in our neighborhood, since no one seems to know how to close a gate inside of a six block radius, but most of the time someone knows which yard to stuff it back in, and all is well.
This one wasn’t one of those dogs.
I chased the little pup into a corner, snagged it, and checked to see if it had a collar. Moments later, I was calling the owner of, “Skeets”, and telling him where he could find his dog. If she hadn’t had a collar with a tag, it could have ended so different. We’d probably have found the owner eventually, but weeks or months down the road instead of days.
If your dog got lost, would you find your dog as quickly and easily? Find out, by asking yourself these simple questions:
Do I have a collar on my dog?
No, really. Does your dog wear a collar? At all times? If your answer is no, you may want to ask yourself why. If your dog spies an open gate, he’s not going to stop his mad dash for freedom to grab a collar and throw it on. Even if your collar doesn’t have ID on it, it will still help keep your dog from being confused as a stray. If you’re concerned about the dog catching it on something, try a break away collar. If you’re worried it may mat his fur, rolled leather does an excellent job of reducing tangles.
Does my dog have an ID?
Having a collar can tell a good Samaritan your dog isn’t a stray, but having a tag on can tell them where to find you.
Does my dog have a second form of ID?
Dogs slip out of their collars all the time. If your dog lost its collar, does he have some other way of being identified? Ear tattoos, noseprints and microchips are becoming more and more common as means of identification. It might take a little more time for someone to discover these more subtle forms of ID, but dogs are found this way all the time.
Will my dog come when called?
Training your dog will not only help when he’s lost, it can save his life. A dog that can’t be caught can’t be returned.
Did you answer yes to any of these questions? The more you answered yes to, the better the odds are your dog will be found. Don’t leave it up to identification though. The safest possible place for your dog is at home. Check your house for escape regularly, and don’t leave anything to chance. Your dog could depend on it!
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10 Creative Ways To Exercise Your Dog
April 26, 2012 in Dog Training, Leia's Corner
Remember, that's Maui I want you to dig a hole to. Not China!
Have you ever had one of those dogs? You know. The one that barks all day long, digs furiously in the garden, tears up the whole house when you leave it, and can’t be taken for a walk without warning everyone in a ten mile radius they’re about to get clotheslined?
I’ve got one of those dogs right now. I have taken her to animal behaviorists, dog trainers, e-mailed other dog people online. I have listened to smug pet store employees preach to me about lack of exercise, and I want to slap them all. Those of you who have a dog like this know, there is no way to give a dog like this a walk that long without quitting your job and applying yourself to nothing else.
My dog is a friggin Chihuahua. (Pardon my french.) Her stride is about 18 inches long. So why is it we can go for a four mile run, pushing so fast and so hard that steam is coming off my body, up hills and over difficult terrain, and yet when I collapse on the couch gasping for air, she’s grabbing up a squeaky toy and begging for more? Before you ask, yeah it does help with the destruction a little. That’s not the point. She should be exhausted! She’s a Chihuahua!
What’s a person to do when faced with a dog like this?
1. The Dinner Time Workout
Those precious few minutes your dog is eating, he’s not ripping up your underwear or whining at the door. Why wouldn’t you want to stretch it out a little? Give your dog his meal in a doggie puzzle, such as a kibble dispensing cube or a kong toy. Figuring out how to get his meal will give him a mental workout, and take his focus off that hole to China.
Don't worry. He's got a compass in that pack.
2. Take It Somewhere Else
New surroundings can be both mentally and physically more difficult than the same old boring walk every day. I took Leia to a park on a 30 foot dog lead, put down a blanket for myself, and let her run. My blanket was strategically placed between a soccer field and a tennis court, and she spent two hours dashing madly back and forth between the two. She didn’t disturb either party since she was too far away, but she exercised herself so well she retired to the couch for the rest of the afternoon, and I got four chapters of my lastest Stephanie Plumb book read. Not a bad trade off.
3. New Toys
Leia is ball crazy, and I spend a little time playing fetch with her most days. Recently I got a frisbee for her to try. She ran harder, jumped higher, and tired herself out faster, playing with a frisbee over a ball.
4. New Tricks
This kind of goes back to the first one, but when my first dog was difficult, I distracted him by giving him something to do. In his case, I taught him to track a specific smell, and had him look for it throughout the house. Now that smell is permanently attached to my keys, wallet, and cellphone. He’s a useful dog.
5. Armchair Exercise
Your dog is still on fire, and you’re ready to sit in your easy chair. Instead of forcing yourself to limp out the door for one more round, try a compromise. Teach your dog to spin, sit and down. For a low calorie treat, have him do doggie push-ups (sit, down, sit, down, sit…) or spin to the left and to the right a few times. He’ll get his workout, you can sit still. It’s perfect!
6. Bring A Friend Over.
If your dog has a best friend, invite him over for a play date. They can tear up the backyard while you sip iced tea on the porch.
7. Hire A Kid
Under supervision only, with a child-proof dog and a responsible child. When I was ten years old, I was hired at the princely price of fifty cents per hour, to throw a ball for a couple of German Shepherds. I thought it was the greatest job in the world, and probably spent hours tossing that ball. The dogs loved it too.
8. Set Up An Obstacle Course
When a storm decides to dump the entire ocean onto my house, all at once, I do not go for a walk. I also do not go out when it is snowing, windy, or over 90 degrees. When these things happen, I set up an obstacle course for my dog in the house and run them over it. This can consist of jumping on the couch, jumping off the couch, weaving empty pop cans, sailing through a child’s play tunnel, and laying down on top of an ottoman. The sky is the limit, as long as you don’t mind dismantling it when play time is over.
9. Tie a toy to yourself.
I wouldn’t recommend this with a dog that weighs more than you do, but it works great for toy dogs. I tie a toy to my belt with a rope while I’m doing stuff around the house. Sure I’m getting tugged on and tag-teamed all through the house as all 3 chihuahuas ‘dog pile’ the toy, but I feel I can handle the combined weight of 11 pounds hanging off my belt loop.
10. Give Them A Bath
I know a few of you are scratching your heads over this one. How could giving a dog a bath be exercise? I can’t possibly have the only dog on Earth who has “The After Bath Freak Out” and if tornadoing around the house at top speed does not tire them out, I don’t know what will.
Leia is still a hyper, crazy, full of energy little monster, but she doesn’t destroy stuff anymore. Now it’s your turn to share. What do you do to tire your dogs out?
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Does Your Dog Get Enough Exercise?
When Mischief Strikes
Do You Own An ATD?
Do you have a blogging problem?
April 25, 2012 in Just For Fun
If you are viewing this page, you or someone you know think you may be a blogaholic and require treatment. Blogaholism is a serious condition that may lead to computer butt, sleeplessness, and carpal tunnel syndrome. You may be a blogaholic if:
- You don’t know the name of your cousin in Italy, but you have the profile of someone who commented on one of your comments on a comment in someone else’s post memorized.
- You have a stat tracker so advanced it can tell you what toothpaste your last visitor used—and you think it’s off because the only visit recorded is your own.
- You make someone else drive on family vacation so you can blog on your phone.
- You scream and shake hands all around the work elevator because your blog got on the technorati top 100 list.
- You request time off for depression when your blog slinks back into obscurity the next day.
- You check for comments ten minutes after making a post.
- You are sure the spam filter is destroying every comment in sight, seeing as there isn’t any comments at all.
- You have a notebook beside your bed just in case you get a post idea in the middle of the night.
- You bi-pass the notebook and just blog it instead when you get an idea in the middle of the night.
- You read this post and laughed.
If any of these sound like you, I’m sorry, but you’re a blogaholic. The only known treatments for blogaholism are Y2k and the zombie apocalypse. Until then, you’re probably hopeless.
Well what are you waiting for? Comment on this post! I’ve been refreshing for ten minutes.
When Mischief Strikes
March 18, 2012 in General
That’s my sock! Let go of that shoe. How did you get in there?
Sandy Pawz is growing up, and unsurprisingly, has developed 4 legs, a tail, and what Rudyard Kipling called, “Insatiable Curiosity.”
Not so bad when it’s a shoe or a sock (all I do is take it away and give her an appropriate item) but it’s really bad when you’re, say, painting a room and she decides to toddle off with a paintbrush.
Did I mention the paintbrush was wet?
I have no pictures of this moment as my card reader for my camera is quite broken, but let me assure you there is paint everywhere, including on all the dogs. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or start washing.
What’s the “worst” thing your dog has ever done?
Managing Multiple Dog Training
March 15, 2012 in Dog Training
Rocco and I started agility again three weeks ago, and we’re loving it. Rocco is learning by leaps and bounds, much more than we ever did at Fido’s Farm. (Not dissing Fido’s Farm here, they did a wonderful job, this new trainers techniques just seem to work for Rocco.) The problem that’s been cropping up hasn’t been anyone’s training at all.
It’s the other dogs crowding around jealously while I’m training. You can’t train one dog in an open area with other dogs present. They push in front of Dog In Training, fighting madly for both attention and treat. Shut yourself in a room, and they’re pressed up against the door, snuffling and sighing. Out in the backyard? Staring out the window and barking.
My husband says Leia whines the entire time we’re at agility, but it isn’t just her. Each of the dogs do this when they’re not the center of attention. I can’t train everybody at the same time, it has to be one on one attention. They’re all going to get that one on one attention, and the same amount. They ought to know that, but I think it’s similar to the, “I have never been fed before. See? My food bowl is empty.” Routine.
Any thoughts on how to give each dog individual attention without all the drama?
Inside the Mind of Barbara Lampert
March 11, 2012 in General, Product Review
Barbara Lampert, author of Charlie: A Love Story, agreed to give us an interview!!!!
Talking with Barbara has been a wonderful experience for me, and I hope you’ll all grab her book and read it. She is a great person, a great writer, and a great dog lover.
Charlie: A Love Story gives you a beautiful glimpse at the relationship the author, Barbara, had with her golden retriever. I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview. I sure did!
- Did you have dogs when you were a child?
No, I didn’t! And that was quite frustrating. I begged and pleaded, promising I’d take care of any dog I was given, but the answer was always “no.” So instead, my parents gave me a parakeet. I named him Lovey, and he lived for thirteen years, which is a really long time for a parakeet. I really did love him tremendously. He was so smart. I taught him how to talk. He would follow me from room to room. And when it was bedtime, I would call him, and he would come from any room he was in, and then I’d put him in his cage. Now that I think about it, he sort of acted like a dog. I felt very close to him. One day I had him on my finger in the back yard (something I did regularly with him), and he just flew away. Well, for four hours I was hysterical. My mother, our neighbors, and I all went looking for him. Finally, I walked back to the house and went to the back yard, and there he was, sitting on the back porch in front of the screen door, waiting to come in. He had a little twig in his back from his travels. Needless to say, I never took him outside on my finger ever again. I was so happy that he was smart enough to find his way back. It was a great reunion!
Wow…that was really lucky! So glad to hear you found him again.
I bet your mom would have let you have a dog if you'd given her this face!
- How did not having a dog as a child affect your relationship with the dogs you had in the book?
After being deprived of a dog for all those years, it’s made me really happy to have not only one dog but a number of them at a time. I will never be without a dog. My dogs get so much love and attention (maybe too much!). Fortunately my husband is also a dog lover, so that means that our house and our lives pretty much revolve around dogs. But we love that, because dogs give so much. It’s wonderful to shower them with love and play with them as much as is humanly possible.
When Charlie came along, he seemed to exemplify the kind of dog I’d been longing for as a child. He and I wanted to be with each other as much as we could. He was so emotionally wise, he soaked up love, he was so loyal, and he loved his family more than anything. He was more than interested in forming a strong bond with me. Well, I could go on and on about Charlie. But really I’ve loved every dog I’ve ever had so much. Each of them has brought something different to my life. If I could, if my lifestyle allowed for it, I’d have many more dogs. Dogs are magic for me!
- Did you always want to be a writer?
Such an interesting question, and so appropriate. No, I did not always want to be a writer, but I’ve always wanted to write at least one book. I’ve always loved books. To me, in a way they are sacred. Writing Charlie: A Love Story just kind of happened. I’d been keeping a gardening journal while I was landscaping our property in Malibu, on almost an acre of land, when at eleven years old Charlie began having some health problems. Very quickly, that journal became about Charlie, and soon I had so many entries about him that my husband David told me I had the makings of a book. I agreed. I love to write, but most of my identity now has to do with being a psychotherapist. Though actually I’m thinking of writing a book about gardening, my garden musings, and the lessons gardening can provide. (See my answer to question 7.)
- How does being a therapist affect how you handle your dogs?
I was going to say that it probably has no effect, but when I think about it, being a therapist probably has some effect. I probably tend to focus on their emotional lives more because I’m a therapist. I’m very conscious of their moods. I can tell when something is bothering them. I try to make them as happy as possible, because I know that’s the feeling they love the most. Dogs are basically joyful. That’s the psychological world they live in, as far as I can tell.
- When did you realize Charlie was the dog of a lifetime?
Probably when I first got him. He had such unusual ways, which drew me in, and then he started being very attached to me. At first, he did not want to go outside. What dog doesn’t want to go outside? As a puppy, he sat with me while I was studying to become a licensed psychotherapist. What puppy wants to sit still? There’s so much more, but I think you get the sense.
- What made you decide to use your gardening book for Charlie?
What caught my attention when Charlie turned eleven and began having some health problems was his attitude. He was like a Buddha. He was joyful after each health event, some of which were quite serious. But for Charlie it was just a matter of getting through them and getting back to his wonderful life.
Fran Lewis, a book reviewer at Goodreads, put it well in her review of my book:
“Charlie had a special glow, energy, strength that most of us wish we had in times of illness, strife and stress.”
- Did you ever finish that gardening book?
Funny you should mention that! As I said above, I’m already thinking about writing another book, which I can’t believe. And not just thinking about it but actually planning on doing it. I’m pretty sure it will be about gardening, my thoughts in the garden, the lessons to be learned in the garden. I love to garden, but not as much as I love dogs. Dogs and gardens, in that order, bring me so much pleasure!
If you’d like some helpful pointers…we the Non-Gardeners-Who-Would-Like-To-Be would love to have a book to read that isn’t all technical. I for one would love to plant a garden, but all I know is which side of the plant goes up!
- How long did it take you to write Charlie: A Love Story from start to finish?
I thought I was finished in 2003, which would have been about three years. However, shortly after that I discovered the world of editing, which added another several years. Keep in mind that I have a full time job as a psychotherapist, and so my writing had to be fit around that. I certainly do not plan on taking as long with my second book. If nothing else, I’ve learned so much from this experience that publishing the next book should be so much easier! Famous last words.
Actually, I’m told the second book is always harder…but I’m sure you’ll do awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us!
Thank you for your wonderful questions! They were thought-provoking and fun to answer.
The Groomer’s Alphabet
March 10, 2012 in Just For Fun
If you haven’t done the Shaking Dog Dance, you’ve clearly never bathed a dog. 
Is Feeding Table Scraps Okay?
March 7, 2012 in Dog Nutrition
Few dogs in this world have gone through their entire lives without ever once sampling a piece of “people food.” It’s really tempting to give in to the soulful eyes of your best friend as he presses up to you, but are table scraps okay for your dog?
Like most of the bigger questions in the dog world, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. It all depends on what those scraps consist of, how much, and when.
Onions, grapes (and their dried version raisins), and chocolate should never be fed to your dog. These foods are highly toxic and can cause symptoms ranging from discomfort to death, depending on how much is ingested.
Feeding table scraps can also cause both begging and obesity. Never feed your dog at the table, especially if he begins nuisance behaviors such as crowding or trying to snatch at your plate. Dogs should also not be fed foods that are plainly unhealthy. Don’t feed him pizza, big macs, or huge bowls of ice cream. If it’s not good for you, it’s probably not good for your dog.
There are a lot of unhealthy side effects to feeding table scraps, so if they’re so unhealthy, why feed them?
When handled correctly, they aren’t unhealthy. In fact, studies have shown that lactating bitches given table scraps have puppies with fewer skin allergies than dogs who were fed only commercial dog foods. If your diet is healthy, offering your dog a sample of what’s on the table won’t hurt it. Particularly good choices include lean meats, steamed vegetables, and plain potatoes or rice.
What do you think of feeding dogs table scraps? Why?